


Changes

by dunklenacht310



Series: Scents [6]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpha!zayn, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Anal Sex, Bottom Harry, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gay Sex, M/M, Married Life, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Nesting, Omega!Harry, Rutting, Self-Lubrication, Top Zayn, a/b/o dynamics, presenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:27:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21649807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dunklenacht310/pseuds/dunklenacht310
Summary: “You’re the best husband,” Harry mutters in Zayn’s mouth, “the best father,” he adds swiping his tongue along the line of Zayn’s bottom lip, “and the best Alpha I could ever wish for,” he concludes, his large hands going to cup both sides of Zayn’s face.-Nora presents, so late that it catches them a little by surprise.It's a big change, but Zayn and Harry wouldn't have it any other way.
Relationships: Zayn Malik/Harry Styles
Series: Scents [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1328912
Comments: 30
Kudos: 149





	Changes

**Author's Note:**

> Usual disclaimer: I don't own or know any of the characters present in this work. I only own the plot and the original characters.
> 
> Another disclaimer: this is just a little something I wrote ages ago, but today I was feeling melancholic and decided it deserved a spot in this beloved series of mine. I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Zayn knows he’s being a bit melodramatic, but he feels like whenever Nora is in a bad mood, she also plunges the whole house into sadness.

And she is. In a bad mood. Zayn can feel it in the way she’s been silent all day, muttering about having a lot of homework and locking herself in her room with her music on.

Harry sighs from where he’s nestled into Zayn’s side on the couch. “I wish Eric was here. He knows how to handle her better than us, these days,” he murmurs.

Zayn sighs too. “Of course he does, babe. They’re teenagers. The Squirrel is sixteen, that’s _exactly_ the age when you go to your big brother rather than your parents,” he replies. He says it because he can see Harry’s worried, and he wants to try and make at least _him_ feel a little better, but the truth is that Zayn’s worried just the same.

Because Nora has been quiet and kinda sad for a while now, and neither Zayn nor Harry know exactly why. Zayn’s sure that Eric knows, because they’ve tried to get it out of him the last time he was home from college, and he’d just shrugged, looking at them in the eyes and saying “It’s the Squirrel’s business, Dad, Baba. Not my place to tell”.

Zayn knows he’s right, and they shouldn’t try to force Nora to speak. But the thought that maybe there’s something wrong with her, something she’s not saying, it kills Zayn a little. And Harry too.

Harry has tried to convince Nora to go get ice-cream with them, and Louis, Liam, Alex and Freddie, that afternoon, as they do most Sundays. Nora is always sweet and caring towards Harry’s feelings, so she just smiled (sadly) at him and told him she’d rather stay in and study, that she has a test the next day.

They both know it’s not true, and even if it was, Nora always studies like crazy, and her own personal rule is that you never study the day before a test, because either you’re ready, or there’s nothing you can do in a single day.

After Nora’s refusal to go out, they still haven’t found the will to go out themselves, so they’re both there, sulking on the couch while Nora keeps staying in her room.

Harry sighs for the umpteenth time. “Eric’s gonna be home in a couple hours. Maybe she’ll feel better when he gets here?”

Zayn chuckles. “Yeah, babe. Maybe she will. We should just join Louis and Liam and the kids, yeah? Leave her some space.”

Harry nods, and they’re both about to stand up from the couch when they hear Nora’s door open, and she’s speaking on the phone. She probably thinks she’s alone in the house, and Zayn kinda knows it’s wrong to just stay there and eavesdrop, and maybe they’re really shitty parents, but neither of them moves.

“But I _don’t feel_ like I’m Beta, Eric,” she says, grunts it as she walks in the corridor. “I don’t _feel_ like I am, it’s like there’s _something else_ , something _more_ , and I don’t know what it is, and it’s driving me fucking mad, that I don’t fucking know who _I am_.”

Zayn’s whole ribcage caves in when he finally understands what his daughter’s problem is. She’s sixteen, and she never presented, so of course it’s clear she’s Beta. Nobody in their family minded, of course, but Nora _does_. She never spoke about it, she clearly only speaks about it with Eric, but it breaks Zayn’s heart, that Nora feels like she’s not at ease in her own body and mind, and that maybe she feels like she’s _not enough_ just because she isn’t Alpha or Omega.

He looks down at Harry, who has tears pooled in his eyes, and a hand on his mouth.

Eric is on speaker, another sign that Nora doesn’t know Harry and Zayn are still home. “What the fuck does it matter, Squirrel? You can be whatever you want. You wanna be Alpha like Baba? Ask him to teach you that growly thing he does when he’s mad,” he says with a chuckle. “Wanna be Omega like me and Dad? I’ll teach you how to make the most beautiful nest in fucking history. You wanna be a real squirrel? I’ll help you climb a tree and build a house in a branch.”

Nora, despite the fact she’s feeling so gloomy and probably crying if the sniffles are any indication, laughs. “Easy for you to say. You know _your place_. I don’t. I’m _nothing_.”

“You’re _not_ nothing!” Eric exclaims. “Jesus, Squirrel, you’re worrying me so fucking much lately. You’re not nothing. You’re _you_. You don’t need to fucking _present_ to be something. You started being _yourself_ the day you were born and cried your lungs out for three days straight and almost broke all the windows with your screams while Dad and Baba looked like they were about to have a meltdown and I just thought ‘sick, she’s gonna be a singer for sure’. You still want that, right? To be a singer?”

Nora chuckles. “Yeah.”

“Well then. That’s what you are. You’re a singer. And you’re The Squirrel. You don’t need more.”

Zayn has to actively fight his tears and the impellent need to just stand up and reach for Nora to hug her. Harry must be thinking the same thing, because he’s about to cry as well, and he’s clutching at Zayn’s shirt like he wants to keep Zayn still and he also needs something to hold onto.

“I’m getting in the car right now, Squirrel,” Eric says then. “Wait for me? Then we can all go get ice-cream with the Payne-Tomlinsons. You know uncle Lou, he might just have a fucking stroke if his only niece stands him up for our Sunday ice-cream tradition.”

Nora chuckles. “At least I don’t have to worry about _him_ being Omega and not wanting me.”

“It’s about a boy,” Harry murmurs. “She likes a boy and he’s Omega and she thinks they can’t be together because she’s Beta and it’s not supposed to work that way.”

Zayn gulps down some air, and nods. “We have to speak to her eventually, Harry. I can’t stand her being like this. I want my Squirrel to feel at ease in her own fucking body, babe, it’s killing me that she’s dealing with this by herself.”

Harry nods.

“Okay,” Nora tells Eric at last, and Zayn hears her going down the stairs. “I’ll be here sulking. I love you, Eric.”

“Love you too, Squirrel. Go give Baba a kiss. I’m sure he’s understood you’re in a mood and he’s worried sick too. Dad as well, but he can conceal it better than Baba.”

Nora laughs. “Yeah, that’s the only certainty I have in my life right now,” she agrees.

They end the call, and despite it all, Zayn smiles. He’s not even mad that his kids make fun of him, not if it makes Nora smile again. He just wants his little tornado back.

“Fuck,” she hisses, and then clears her throat. “Hey! I thought you’d gone out.”

Zayn and Harry pretend not to have heard anything, of course, and they both silently agree to lie a little, to make her more at ease. So they make a show of stretching and yawning. “Oh, we fell asleep,” Harry slurs, quite convincingly if Zayn can be honest. “You still studying, Squirrel?”

Nora frowns a little, studying their faces, and then smiles, nodding. “Yeah. Eric says he’s just gotten in the car. Maybe… I’ll come get ice-cream, after he gets here.”

Zayn smiles. “Come gimme a hug, Squirrel,” he says, opening his arms.

Nora, to her credit and to Zayn’s utter relief, almost flies to him, running on the linoleum floor and stomping a lot, as usual, and then she jumps on the couch, squeezing herself in between him and Harry, and wrapping her arms around Zayn’s neck. “I love you, Baba,” she murmurs.

Zayn sighs, kissing her on top of her head. “I love you too, Squirrel.”

Harry sighs dramatically. “Oh, no, don’t mind me, really.”

Nora and Zayn look at each other and roll their eyes, before Nora turns to Harry and chuckles, giving him a hug as well. “I love you too, Dad, you know that. Sorry I’ve been a bit down lately. I’ll be better soon, I promise.”

Harry smiles, rubbing circles on her back. “In your own time, Squirrel. We’re both here if you need to talk, yeah?”

Nora nods. “I know.”

Eric is at the door in a couple hours, as he promised. Zayn and Harry would very much like to run for the door and pull their lil’ Button—who is now not so little, because he’s twenty, although Zayn sometimes still forgets it—in a tight hug, because they haven’t seen him in three months, but they don’t move.

Nora smiles at them, and she’s the one running for the door, screeching in excitement like a fucking Banshee, and Zayn hears Harry heave a relieved sigh in sync with him. “She’s still our little tornado,” Harry comments in a whisper.

Zayn smiles.

Nora hauls the door open and then jumps right on Eric, making all his bags fall to the ground and probably damaging his eardrums for life. Nonetheless, Eric laughs and holds her close. She’s quite tall to be sixteen, because she got her build from Harry rather than Zayn, so Eric only has couple inches on her. Her bun falls off when they hug, a cascade of brown curls dropping down her back until her bum. “I missed you, Squirrel,” Eric whispers.

Nora giggles. “I missed you too. Those two always look like their firstborn is fighting a war rather than off to college, it’s like, embarrassing.”

“We’re here and we’re listening!” Zayn growls.

Nora chuckles as she turns to look at Zayn with the same green eyes Zayn fell in love with, a lifetime ago. As his kids are stood on the threshold, Zayn realizes just how much Eric looks like him (he’s even tying his hair in a topknot lately) and Nora looks like Harry. It’s quite uncanny, that they’re their children, and Zayn loves it.

They stare at each other with a smile, and then Harry’s gone, sniffling a little and running to them, wrapping Eric in a hug. “My lil’ Button,” he says. “I missed you.”

Eric rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling as he hugs Harry back. “I missed you too, Dad. And Baba.”

Zayn sighs, and stops pretending that Button coming back from war— _college_ —is not affecting him. So he runs to them as well, and envelops them in a hug, pulling at Nora’s arm so she’ll join them too.

“This is _really_ lame,” Nora says, her voice muffled from where her face has ended up being pressed against Zayn’s chest.

“Then we’re lame. Deal with it,” Zayn declares.

“What’s going on with my niece, lads?” Louis demands in a whisper.

Harry, Zayn, Liam and Louis are sitting at a table in front of the ice-cream truck, and the kids—well, not kids anymore, but still—are getting cones for everyone. Zayn can see Eric and Nora bicker about this or that taste, Alex trying to back Eric up while Freddie is on Nora’s side. The usual, he thinks with a chuckle.

Harry sighs. “Can’t speak about it now. But, like, we heard her talk to Eric. She’s… she doesn’t want to be Beta. She thinks she’s nothing.”

Louis’s eyes narrow in a sad frown. “What?”

Zayn nods. “Yeah. We’re not supposed to know,” he says quickly. “But she’s been sad about this for a while.”

Louis nods. “Yeah, I know. Haven’t heard a good old Nora-shout in forever. I miss it,” he says.

Zayn looks back at the kids. Nora and Freddie (they’re the same age, they always do everything together, feels like) are balancing their own ice-creams and Louis’s and Liam’s in their hands, laughing as Freddie tries to steady Nora’s grip on the cones while he pays.

He sees Eric stare at them with something a bit unreadable in his gaze, and he’s never felt further away from understanding his own kids. It’s honestly kinda frustrating.

Alex, who is a year older than Eric but looks at least _five_ years older than him because he looks exactly like Liam—Alpha, tall, and fucking ripped already—pats him on the shoulder, making Eric’s whole body rattle, which in turn makes Zayn snort. “Oi, mate. Help me here, yeah?” Alex tells Eric, who laughs and shakes his head and focuses on the ice-creams.

As the kids finally come back to the table and distribute ice-creams to everybody, Nora sits on her usual spot next to Louis, who smiles at her and wraps an arm around her shoulders. “Come here, my little Banshee,” he sighs.

Nora goes willingly, resting her head on Louis’s shoulder and smiling. “Hi, uncle Lou. I missed you.”

Freddie rolls his eyes. “You literally saw him two days ago.”

“That’s two days too long, then,” she retorts scrunching her nose at him.

Louis flips the bird to his own son with a grin. “Suck it up, Freds. I am her favourite person in the whole world and everybody knows it.”

Nora hums. “I confirm.”

Zayn growls a little. It’s playful and they all know, but Liam never growls, so every time Zayn does it, it’s a source of great hilarity among the kids. “Whoa, whoa there, uncle Zed,” Alex raises his hands in a surrendering gesture. “That was scary!”

Nora giggles. “My Baba’s scary sometimes, yeah. But there’s no point in being jealous of uncle Lou, Baba, you know that.”

“My own daughter,” Zayn sighs dramatically. “My own daughter shunning me like that.”

Nora grins. It’s toothy and she has dimples just like Harry, so Zayn only feels like he has to smile just as brightly, and he does. Only when Nora starts talking Louis’s ears off, to Louis’s utter delight, does Zayn realize that Freddie’s weirdly silent.

He’s smiling, though. Smiling and staring at Nora a little bit, if Zayn isn’t imagining stuff. He doesn’t understand what’s going on with him either, and well, if Louis has a soft spot for Nora, then Zayn has one for Freddie, so he opens his mouth to ask him what’s wrong.

Eric’s foot connects with Zayn’s ankle then. Not harshly, just there to catch his attention. He shakes his head at Zayn with a little panicked expression, unequivocally telling him not to say whatever it is he wants to say, and Zayn snaps his mouth shut, because he’s had Eric and Harry with him for twenty years, and by now he knows they always know best. And they can both read Zayn’s mind, apparently, so.

Their ice-creams are soon over, but as usual, the kids aren’t satisfied and they want a second one, so they go back to the truck and start bickering again. Zayn hears Nora scream louder than the rest of them, and he chuckles.

That’s when they all sense a shift in the mood, and Zayn sees a guy approach Freddie.

He’s his and Nora’s age, for sure, and they know each other, because they say hi to each other. Freddie kinda looks like he doesn’t feel like talking to him. _Alpha_ , Zayn thinks as he catches the scent of the other kid. His stomach churns a little. Freddie’s Omega, and Zayn notices just how _close_ the Alpha boy is standing to him, how _bigger_ than Freddie he is, and the thrums of an old worry and panic course through his body.

He turns to look at Louis. “Lou? Who’s that lad?” he asks, trying to fight the growl he feels in his throat.

Louis is staring at his kid, but he doesn’t look too worried. “Parker. A friend from Nora and Freddie’s class.”

“Why is he standing so fucking _close_ to my nephew?” Zayn demands. He feels Harry’s hand settle on his knee, like he wants to calm Zayn down. Zayn relaxes, but just a little.

Louis sighs. “He’s been coming onto Freddie for a while. Doesn’t seem to want ‘no’ as an answer. Didn’t Nora tell you? She almost ripped his face off when he told Freddie that he’s Omega and he’s bi, so he should ‘accept every offer’ or summat.”

Zayn wants to growl, but he manages to restrain himself. “Why ain’t you worried?”

Louis smiles. “Because our kids know how to handle themselves. Besides, someone’s taking care of defending my son already,” he says, and points at the kids again.

Zayn thinks that, on hindsight, he should have known what was going on way before he sees it.

Because he’s not growling, but someone else is. He thought it was Alex, defending his little brother.

But it’s not even Alex.

It’s Nora.

She straightens her back, her jaw set, and she walks towards Freddie, standing in front of him to face the lad called Parker, and she isn’t realizing what she’s doing, but Zayn surely is.

Nora’s growling, low in her throat, perfectly audible even from their table.

Zayn’s blood freezes in his veins. He looks for Eric, who is there staring at his sister, equally paralyzed.

“ _Get lost,_ Parker,” Nora growls.

Parker frowns. “Malik?”

Nora growls again. “ _He said no_.”

Freddie looks at Nora. Then, he smells the air, circling his head a little, and staggers backwards, his hand on his own chest like his heart is bursting out.

“Oh, fuck,” Louis mutters.

Zayn doesn’t understand. _There’s something I’m missing_ , he thinks.

Parker blinks at Nora. “If he was yours you should have just said so,” he tells her. “I didn’t even know you were one.”

Nora takes a step forward. “He’s not _mine_ ,” she grunts. “He’s _his own_ , and that’s enough. _Back off_.”

Parker does, to his credit. He looks at Nora, and then at Freddie, and then shrugs and goes away.

Zayn doesn’t even have time to smile at his daughter defending her friend, because then he realizes.

Nora isn’t just _defending_ Freddie.

“Nora,” Freddie murmurs, almost mewls, his eyes a bit half-lidded. “Your scent. It’s the most beautiful fucking scent in the world, when, how, where…” he adds, his hands raised to grab Nora by the hands.

Nora growls again. “ _Your_ scent,” she just says, smelling the air like she’s never smelled anything as good before either.

“Eric, stop her!” Harry shouts, abruptly, standing up. Eric is already moving, though, grabbing Nora by an arm to get her away from Freddie, and Alex is also keeping Freddie back.

Nora growls and tries to get free of Eric’s hold, still staring at Freddie with an abashed expression, like she can’t believe they’re being separated, and she wants to get back to him. Freddie looks just the same.

Zayn moves. He understands, now, he smells it in the air and hears it in Nora’s growls.

_She’s Alpha. And she’s going into rut._

“Zayn,” Harry murmurs, at a loss, while the four of them all stand up, running to their kids.

“She smells so good,” Freddie mewls. “Let me go, let me go to her, I need her, I need her.”

“I need him,” Nora growls from Eric’s arms. “Let me go, I need him.”

“Fuck, Nora, no!” Eric shouts, his eyes frantically looking for Zayn. “Baba!”

Zayn is on them in an instant.

He’s never seen an imprint, but now he understands.

Imprints happen when an Alpha presents, by going into their first rut, when their mate is also there.

_Both the Alpha and the Omega stop being conscious_ , his grandma told him once. _They only want to mate. It’s the only thing that they feel in that moment_.

“Fuck,” he hears Liam whisper too.

They manage to get Nora and Freddie at a safe distance from each other. Zayn’s heart is coming out of his chest as he drags Nora away while she screams for Freddie, but when they’re far enough, and Freddie’s scent is not that close, she seems to regain lucidity.

She’s panting and sweating, her skin flushed. “What’s happening to me, Baba?” she asks, abashed.

Zayn takes a breath. “You’re Alpha, Squirrel. You’re Alpha and you’re going into rut. We have to get you home.”

Nora shakes her head. “No, I wanna go to Freddie, I think I hurt him, he was crying, what did I do what did I do…”

“Nora!” Zayn growls, because he can’t help it. “Freddie is _fine!_ You didn’t do anything, and you can talk to him later. Now we need to go home.”

Zayn doesn’t have time to talk to Harry. He just puts Nora in his car as gently as he can, and drives back home. She’s sweating and panting in the passenger seat, her face flushed as she tries to cool it down by pressing her forehead into the window. “How can I be Alpha? I’m sixteen. I never presented,” she groans.

Zayn knows exactly how she feels. He remembers when he presented, the feeling of his body doing things of its own, the impellent need to just fuck and claim, the frustration because _nothing_ seemed to be enough, and he _wanted wanted wanted_ so much he thought he would die. He felt gross and filthy for his thoughts, he thought there was something wrong with him, and sometimes, he still does.

“You presented late, Squirrel, that’s all,” Zayn tells her as gently as he can. “Your Dad did too. They all thought he was Beta until he presented as Omega when he was almost seventeen. You look so much like him. We should have known you’d be a late one too,” he adds, talking more to himself than to her.

“I _need_ something, Baba,” Nora growls. “I don’t know what it is, but I need it, I want it, I want it, it’s killing me.”

Zayn takes a deep breath. He has literally no idea how to handle a female Alpha in rut, there are so many things about their bodies that are different, and Nora looks like she’s in actual pain, and he’s never felt more powerless.

He knows it’s dangerous while he’s driving, but he pulls out his phone, and calls Doniya.

She answers at the second ring. “Bro?”

“Doni,” he sighs. “It’s Nora. She just presented. She’s Alpha and she’s in rut, she had an imprint with Freddie right now. I don’t know what to do.”

“Oh, _fuck_ ,” Doni hisses. “Bring her home. I’m coming to yours right now, baby bro. It looks worse than it actually is, I swear.”

Harry gets home roughly half an hour after Doni locks herself in Nora’s room with her, and Zayn heaves a sigh of relief when he sees his husband again. Harry also sighs, and goes straight for Zayn, hugging him. “Doni’s here,” Zayn tells Harry. “She says that she’ll take care of Nora for a while, explain things to her.”

Harry nods. “Eric’s at Lou and Liam’s. Nora, she, um, she triggered a sympathy heat in Freddie.”

Zayn huffs. “Fuck. Isn’t he on suppressants?”

“It doesn’t matter with this, Zayn. It’s an imprint. It doesn’t care about suppressants,” Harry says with another sigh, sitting on the couch with Zayn. “It’s Freddie, Zayn. The boy Nora was sad about. They’ve apparently been in love for years and we didn’t notice.”

Zayn brushes his hands on his face. “Really? But… but they…”

Harry chuckles. “They’re always together, ain’t they? And Nora is very protective of Freddie. They smell like mate to each other. And today Nora presented, super late ‘cause she took _that_ from me as well, and Freddie was there and they imprinted. The signs were all there, babe. Of Nora being Alpha. We didn’t recognize them.”

Zayn sighs. “She’s always so protective of you and Eric. She’s been getting angry pretty easily lately. She’s been on the edges of a rut for weeks and we didn’t notice, what kind of fucking Alpha and father am I?”

Harry sighs, and envelops Zayn in a hug. “Oh, Zayn, no! Neither of us could have noticed, babe. And I’m afraid there’s also little we can do, apart from letting Doniya take a little bit care of Nora. She needs a woman now, not just an Alpha.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right,” Zayn concedes. “A fucking imprint, Haz. What… I don’t know shit about imprints.”

Harry sighs. “Me neither. But Liam does. He said his sister had one when she presented as Omega, and her Alpha mate was there. He told me a little bit about it. He said that it always triggers a heat or rut in the other person, but it only happens when the Alpha or the Omega first presents. Then, everything’s normal. Apart from the fact that you’re very young and you already know who your mate is supposed to be.”

“Jesus, Haz, can you fucking _imagine_ what’s going on inside her head now?” Zayn almost whimpers.

Harry opens his mouth to reply, but right that moment they hear a scream, loud and guttural, coming from upstairs and followed by the noises of something breaking.

Harry whimpers just by sheer reflex, like he’s scared, and he buries his face in Zayn’s side. Zayn’s arms go around his middle, holding him close. “Don’t worry, babe,” he whispers to Harry. “It’s normal. First rut is always a bit intense, yeah? Especially if… if you can’t fuck and knot through it,” he forces himself to add, because it’s fair that Harry doesn’t know what it feels, and he knows Harry probably doesn’t wanna hear about their little Squirrel feeling the need to claim and knot, but they have to come to terms with it, because a first rut lasts at least a _week_ , and there’s gonna be a lot of growls and screams and broken things since Nora can’t have that _other kind_ of outlet.

Doniya comes downstairs, alone, a couple hours later, when the growls and the screams have subsided a little bit. She looks a bit tired, but her reassuring smile makes Zayn’s stomach unclench a little, even if he notices Harry’s still tense, still whimpering as a reflex to the scent of an Alpha in rut upstairs.

“She’s asleep,” Doni says, sitting down next to them. “I, um, I told her what to do to make it hurt less. She knows how to handle herself now.”

Zayn’s kinda glad Doniya isn’t saying anything specific, because he thinks he and Harry might as well have a coronary if they have to face the issue of their daughter masturbating because she needs to knot. Zayn’s not even sure how a _female_ knot works, and he intends to know as little as possible about that.

Doni clears her throat. “I think the worst is already past, but there will be more screams and tantrums and growls,” she tells them. “Also… she’ll probably say a lot of things she doesn’t mean. Like, hurtful things. Zayn, you know how a first rut feels. You’re angry all the time, you need things you can’t have, and it’s painful. So, like, whatever she’ll say, just know she doesn’t mean it. Don’t take it personally. And, like, if you need me again, for whatever reason, you can call me. Okay?”

Harry nods. “My poor baby. I didn’t know a first rut would be like… this.”

“She also imprinted with someone,” Doniya replies. “That made it a bit worse. Catching the scent of her mate in heat and then being forced to be separated from him. It fucked her cycle a little, made it more powerful.”

Zayn growls, and then forces himself to stop. “What were we supposed to do? They’re sixteen! We couldn’t have left them to fuck each other through it, could we? They’re too young, they were barely conscious of what they were doing!”

Doniya nods. “I know. But Zayn, imagine going into rut, and someone pulls Harry away from your hands while he’s also going into heat.”

Zayn’s stomach flips. The thought of not having Harry close at whatever time is already a hard one, but imagining going through a _rut_ without him? It’s almost too painful to even fathom.

Doni nods. “Yeah. That’s what she felt. And I know there was no other way, but she wasn’t lucid enough to realize that what her body wanted couldn’t possibly happen now. It’ll pass, yeah? The rut will be gone eventually, and then she’ll be on suppressants and she’ll be just like any other Alpha. Everything’s more intense when you’re a woman. She’ll be okay, I promise. But for now, try to give her space. Make sure she eats and drinks, and don’t, like, bother her. She’ll come out of the room when she’ll feel better.”

When Doni is gone, Zayn and Harry call Eric. He tells them that Freddie’s still in heat, but it feels like it’s already almost gone, probably only a couple more hours to go, because it’s a sympathy heat, so it’ll be over as soon as Freddie’s body realizes there’s no actual mate to take care of it.

Eric then demands a detailed report of his Squirrel’s conditions, almost flipping when he asks specific questions like how will she knot and what is she doing to make it hurt less, and neither Harry nor Zayn can reply because they didn’t ask Doniya _that_ , trusting her when she said Nora now knows how to handle herself. Then, Eric must understand that Zayn and Harry are almost in a panic, because he calms down and sighs, declaring that he’ll call Aunt Doni himself to ask about female Alpha biology, because it’s his _Squirrel_ they’re talking about, so he needs to know. Zayn even musters a real smile, because Eric is a true, real Omega, always trying to tend to the Alphas he loves. He always does it with Zayn as well, when he realizes his Baba has something wrong, and he always tries to help him as much as he can. Now he’s gonna be the same with Nora, because he loves her, and because it’s his nature.

Which brings Zayn to realize just how bad this must feel for Harry, his love, his Omega, who is the _father_ of the Alpha in rut they now have upstairs, and an Omega himself, which means he’s _dying_ to do something to help her, ease her, but he _can’t_.

Harry’s nowhere to be found in the house at the moment, which means he’s probably in their bedroom, trying to calm down. Zayn hopes Harry isn’t close to nesting, because he isn’t sure he can deal with his daughter being in rut and his mate nesting _at the same time_. He doesn’t go look for him, though, deciding to give him his own space. Instead, he cooks for them. He makes sure to fill an extra big plate for Nora, hoping she’ll want to eat.

Harry shows up in the kitchen half an hour later, sniffling a little, and he wordlessly crawls under Zayn’s arm, snuggling his side like he does when he’s worried out of his mind. Zayn sighs, and holds him close, pulling him so that Harry’s properly facing him, and then he wraps his arms around Harry’s middle. “Are you holding up okay, babe?” Zayn asks.

Harry nods. His eyes are a bit red. “Yeah. I just… like, I feel useless. I’m sorry, I know it’s stupid. But I do.”

Zayn kisses him. It’s a bit harder and faster than he originally intended, but Harry is in clear distress, and Zayn’s Alpha brain is shouting _my mate is in distress I need to help I need to provide for him_ like there’s an incessant pounding in his skull.

Harry goes easily. He slumps against Zayn’s front, sighing and immediately opening his mouth so that Zayn can slip his tongue inside, and they stay there, snogging for a while, until Harry seems a bit more relaxed. Zayn smiles, and hands him Nora’s plate. “Wanna go see if she wants to eat anything?” he asks Harry.

Harry smiles, because he knows Zayn’s leaving the task to him so that he can try to feel _less_ useless, and he seems to appreciate Zayn’s try, because one of his dimples shows up, and he goes up the stairs.

Zayn stays at the end of the stairs, though, and concentrates to listen to what goes on. Just in case.

Harry knocks on the door. “Squirrel?” he says. “Can I come in?”

“Whatever,” Nora replies.

Harry doesn’t seem deterred by the brusque answer, and Zayn hears the door creak as his husband gets inside Nora’s room. “I brought you something to eat, Squirrel. Your Baba made it.”

“’M not a fucking _squirrel_. I’m a monster. I’m disgusting. Leave me alone.”

“Oh, baby, no! You’re not… you’re not _disgusting_!” Harry says, trying to force his voice not to pitch too high in his haste to convince Nora. “You’re… I get that it’s a bit much, what you’re feeling. I’m not Alpha so I can’t know for sure. But I know presenting always makes you feel like you’re gross and filthy and like there’s something wrong with you. But there’s nothing wrong with you, okay?”

Nora scoffs bitterly. It’s an ugly sound, and Zayn has to brace himself on the railing of their stairs, because he just _knows_ she’s about to burst. “You’re the one to talk, ain’t you, huh?” she tells Harry in a growl. “This is _your_ fault. Baba said I was late because I took it _from you_. I spent _years_ thinking that I was a fucking Beta when I wasn’t, and you never _thought_ to tell me that I could be anything else, you didn’t prepare me, you didn’t _care_!”

Zayn’s feet move. He doesn’t even know what he wants to do, but he wants to get Harry away from Nora’s room, because he knows just how much those words are hurting him, and he knows Nora doesn’t mean them, and he knows that rationally Harry knows as well, but Harry’s heart must be breaking a little anyway. Before Zayn can climb three steps, a hand closes on his arm, almost giving him a heart attack.

It’s Eric. He came back, but Zayn was so concentrated on Harry and Nora that he didn’t even hear the door open. Eric’s eyes are tired but firm as he shakes his head. “Let me go, Baba,” he whispers. “You take care of Dad, I take care of the Squirrel. Deal?”

Zayn knows Eric knows better than him or Harry in that moment, and he wonders when it happened, that Eric started to be a _help_ in their family rather than just someone they need to take care of. So he nods, sighing. “I’m losing my shit, _beta_ ,” he confesses.

Eric sighs and nods, gently hugging Zayn. “I know, Baba. It’s gonna be over soon. Let me help.”

Zayn hears Harry clear his throat upstairs. “I’ll leave you alone now, baby,” he tells Nora, and his voice is dangerously shaking. “Try to eat and drink, okay? Goodnight.”

Zayn feels it deep in his bones, his mate’s hurt and stress and despair, his feeling of impotence. Harry doesn’t show up on the stairs, he probably stopped in the corridor. _My mate’s hurt I need to help_ , Zayn’s brain is signalling.

Eric sighs, and goes up the stairs, disappearing in the corridor.

“Dad?”

“Hey,” Harry says, trying and failing to make his voice stop shaking.

Zayn hears a rustle that tells him Eric’s hugging Harry. “She didn’t mean it, Dad. She loves you.”

“I know. I know. It’s just, a lot. I can’t stand knowing she’s hurting and I can’t do anything about it. I’m okay though. Just, like, I think she won’t push you away. So be with her for a while?”

Eric sighs again. “I will, don’t worry, I can handle the Squirrel in rut better than you or Baba. But you’re not okay, Dad. You need to nest, I can feel it. Go to Baba and nest, yeah? I’ll deal with Nora for tonight. It’ll be better in the morning.”

Zayn is almost flying up the stairs at the mention of Harry needing to nest, because that’s what he does, he provides for his mate, whether be it knotting, taking care of him, letting him nest. Now Zayn can take care of Harry more than any of them can take care of Nora, so he has to confide that their Button, their lil’ Button who is not little anymore, will handle Nora while Zayn takes care of their father.

Harry’s still in the corridor, the lights turned off, and he sniffles when he feels Zayn approaching. “Come on, babe,” Zayn says soothingly. “Eric’s right, you’ve probably been needing to nest for a couple hours already. I’m sorry I didn’t notice.”

“I pushed it back. The need. I didn’t want to add to our stress today,” Harry replies.

“You don’t need to push anything back with me, babe. Never had to in twenty years, we’re not gonna start today,” Zayn declares as he gently pulls Harry towards their bedroom, locking the door behind them.

Zayn grabs the comforter from their bed, setting it on the floor in a corner of the room, Harry’s favourite corner to nest. He then rummages through the closet, grabbing all his sweaters, and he brings them to the corner as well, dropping them on the comforter until there’s a quite comfortable heap of fabric there. Harry chuckles and reaches Zayn, stopping him and grabbing his face to bring him into a kiss. It’s slow and deep, and Zayn obliges, because whatever Harry needs, he provides.

When Harry stops licking at the roof of Zayn’s mouth, Zayn gets rid of Harry’s top, and then slides one of his sweaters on Harry’s torso. It’s a bit too small on Harry, but it has Zayn’s scent, so it’s exactly what Harry needs. Harry inhales deeply, and his shoulders already look more relaxed. They both set the clothes and the comforter in a nice little arrangement, and then Zayn plops on it, opening his arms and smiling at Harry.

Harry sighs, and cuddles up next to Zayn, letting Zayn engulf him in his arms and pull the comforter on their heads, so that they’re completely covered in it, with Zayn’s scent all around. “Are you comfortable, babe?”

Harry nods against Zayn’s neck. “Yeah. Thanks, babe. Your nests are the best.”

Zayn sighs dramatically. “’S my scent. It’s just too fucking good, innit?”

Harry chuckles a little. “Shut up, babe.”

“I love you, Harry.”

“I love you too, Zayn. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, babe. Sleep tight. I’ll be here.”

Zayn wakes up in what looks like the middle of the night, judging from the almost total absence of light in the room.

He’s gotten used to it, though. Whenever he helps Harry nest, Zayn’s body always stays half-alert to make sure Harry’s fine, even in their sleep.

They’re still in their cosy little blanket fort. Zayn slowly raises a hand in the darkness, looking for Harry’s face. Maybe, if Harry’s sleeping tightly, he can move them both to the actual bed now.

But Harry’s already awake, mostly at least. Their legs are tangled in the sheets and in each other, and Zayn’s hand barely has time to brush a couple curls away from Harry’s eyes before Harry sighs and starts stretching, his calf elongating right over Zayn’s crotch, almost dangerously.

They don’t speak for a moment. Even in the darkness, their eyes find each other as soon as they adjust to the lack of illumination, and they stare and stare like they’ve done for years.

There’s no other sound in the house, which means Nora finally managed to get some sleep, and so did Eric.

Zayn sees a flash of pearly white when Harry smiles at him. “Hey, babe,” Harry says, his voice a bit slurred from sleep.

“Hey, babe,” Zayn echoes in a whisper. “You feel any better?”

“Yeah. You’re too far,” Harry murmurs, and the next moment his hand is going for the collar of Zayn’s t-shirt, grabbing it so that he can pull Zayn completely on top of him.

They rarely fuck, when Harry nests, because most of the time Harry’s too stressed to think about anything else. Now, though, Zayn can feel his husband’s dick, hard in between their bodies, just as Harry’s mouth collides with his own, demanding a wet, open-mouthed kiss which Zayn happily provides.

“You’re the best husband,” Harry mutters in Zayn’s mouth, “the best father,” he adds swiping his tongue along the line of Zayn’s bottom lip, “and the best Alpha I could ever wish for,” he concludes, his large hands going to cup both sides of Zayn’s face.

Zayn chuckles as he kisses Harry back. “I’m the one who’s supposed to coddle you a little right now, babe.”

Harry shrugs. “Letting me shower you in the praise you deserve is part of you ‘coddling’ me, I guess,” he declares.

After that, Zayn kinda loses the ability to speak, because Harry’s mouth travels down to his pulse point, sucking what will surely be a mark on the base of Zayn’s neck, not that Zayn would ever dream to complain.

Their hands seem to have a will of their own when they reach for their waistbands at the same time. They don’t waste another second, not even removing their clothes. Zayn just pulls Harry’s pants down enough to be able to wrap a hand around Harry’s dick, which is hard and already leaking. Their breaths are hot under the heavy blankets completely covering them, but Zayn doesn’t mind that they’re starting to sweat. He loves moments like this, when he feels like he’s drowning in Harry’s scent all around him, knowing that Harry’s also overwhelmed by Zayn’s own scent and he wouldn’t change a single thing about it anyway.

Harry moans softly when Zayn’s hand pumps his dick just a couple times, before leaving it to slide back, to his hole. Everything’s already soaked there, and Harry sighs and whimpers, his legs opening as much as they can with the restraint of the pants still around his mid-thighs.

“I want your knot,” Harry whispers, his lips brushing Zayn’s with every syllable. “I want your knot, give it to me, my love, my Alpha.”

Zayn nods frantically, and even more frantically grabs Harry by the hips and makes him turn so that he’s on his stomach. They can’t see much, but Zayn doesn’t need to. He’s learned it by heart, the curve of Harry’s ass, the plains and valleys of his broad back, underneath him while Harry begs for something he doesn’t really need to beg for, because everything Zayn has is Harry’s, has always been since the very day Zayn got Harry’s clothes by mistake at a fucking dry cleaning.

Zayn slides two fingers inside Harry at once, and Harry bites down on the blankets, to muffle his groan. Zayn chuckles and leans over him, shushing him by whispering right in Harry’s ear, because he knows Harry likes it. “Shush, babe,” he says. “Nora went to sleep, you don’t wanna wake her, do you?”

Harry shakes his head with another mewl, his hips rolling to match the movement of Zayn’s fingers in and out of him. “I need it, Zayn, I need it.”

“Yeah, babe, I know. I can give it to you whenever you want,” Zayn replies, as if it wasn’t already obvious to both Harry and himself.

“Now,” Harry pleads.

Zayn nods, and he thrusts his dick into Harry easily, with the practice of years and years of slow love-making to his Omega. He doesn’t rise on his knees, he stays right there, lying completely on top of Harry, knowing that even his full weight won’t crush Harry, knowing that Harry only likes it more when Zayn’s pressing him into the mattress—well, the blankets now—with his whole body.

Harry’s tight and wet, even after all those years, and Zayn would say that he’s amazed, except he’s not, because he knows every nook and cranny of Harry’s body better than even his own.

Zayn thrusts, hard, three times, and each time Harry releases a harsh, silent breath. His arm goes backwards, so that his fingers can grab at the hair on Zayn’s nape and pull Zayn’s head closer. Now Zayn’s lips are pressed right against the shell of Harry’s ear, and Zayn breathes in it, smiles at the goose-bumps he can feel rising on Harry’s skin. “Fuck, Harry,” Zayn mutters. “There’s no place that feels more like home than your body to me.”

Harry whimpers. “It’s like I’m always too empty until you come and fill me up, Zayn,” he replies, and it would be dirty talking, if Zayn didn’t know Harry doesn’t just mean it sexually.

Zayn thrusts harder, and faster, spurred on by the way Harry buries his face in the blankets to avoid screaming. It’s galvanizing, sometimes, to watch the utter mess he can make of Harry, to watch this perfect human being ruined, broken and then put back together by none other than _Zayn_.

“ _Mine_ ,” Zayn growls, because even after all these years, he just can’t fucking help it.

Harry nods. “ _Yours_ ,” he replies. “Give me your knot, Zayn, I need it, _mine mine mine_.”

Zayn only cants his hips one more time, and then next second he’s coming, his knot pushing forward and locking him and Harry together. Harry’s body goes rigid and he comes too, shakes with it and arches his back under Zayn, a small groan escaping his lips before he seals them shut and keeps shaking under Zayn’s arms.

Zayn gently manhandles them both until they’re on their sides, still tied by the knot and still buried under a thousand blankets, their breaths slowly steadying.

“I love you,” Harry murmurs.

Zayn smiles. “I love you too, babe. Get some more sleep, yeah? I’ll be here. As always.”

+

Harry feels better with the passing of days, and so does Nora. Zayn is immensely grateful that Eric is home from college, because he fucking helps, _a lot_ , and Zayn tells him so, on the fifth night of Nora’s rut, when the house has gone a little more quiet. Maybe they’re getting to the end of that fucking tiring week. Eric, true to his Omega self and to his nature in general, just smiles and shrugs, telling him that they’re his family, and even if he hadn’t been there for the holidays, he’d have come at once to help any time.

Nora isn’t screaming and growling anymore, and her scent through the house is a bit fainter.

They haven’t seen Nora in five days even though she’s in the house, he thinks a bit grimly. After the way she reacted to Harry that first day, they’ve deemed it best to let Eric handle her, and they’ve left Nora her space. Harry has suffered a little bit more than Zayn, because they’re both his pups, but Nora, Nora’s different. It’s like Zayn and Eric, who have a special connection because Zayn’s Alpha and Eric’s Omega. In the same way, Nora being Alpha and Harry being Omega has strengthened Harry’s bond with their daughter, and Zayn is sure the feeling’s mutual, and it’ll be clear when Nora will be past her rut and in herself again.

Freddie’s also fine, Eric says. Zayn heard Nora even speak to him on the phone the night before. She was crying, asking him if he wanted to talk to her like she was scared he would say no. Freddie hadn’t said no. He’d cried too, and told her that he’s been waiting for her rut to be over because he doesn’t want to do anything but _finally_ speak to her. Zayn had smiled. Maybe things will really work out for the best.

He’s about to tell Harry to just go to sleep and that he can take care of their dishes, when Nora shows up in the kitchen.

She looks different, Zayn thinks. Of course, rationally, he knows he only saw his daughter five days earlier, and there’s nothing different in her appearance. Her hair is damp because she probably showered before coming down, and her eyes are red and puffy. She’s wearing shorts and a tank top, and her skin is kinda flushed, but there’s something, _something different_ , something Zayn can’t pinpoint until Nora smiles and walks over to them in silence.

_She’s more at ease_ , Zayn realizes as Nora doesn’t stomp, doesn’t flail her long limbs, doesn’t take out any chair in her wake like a baby giraffe. She looks like she’s at ease in her own body, finally, like she knows where all her parts should go, and Zayn remembers himself, when he was a teenager, feeling like all his limbs were in the wrong place all the time before he presented, and then suddenly he knew who he was, he knew where to put his parts.

Zayn smiles at her. Nora smiles back.

Then, she goes straight for Harry, hugs him, and buries her face in his neck. “I’m sorry, Dad, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean any of that horrible shit I said to you, you’re my Dad, I’m sorry, it wasn’t your fault, I was just so angry…” she rambles.

Harry’s arms wrap around her easily. He’s still taller than Nora, and of course broader, but he doesn’t look that much like he’s engulfing her anymore, just settling protectively around her, because it’s his child, his daughter, his little tornado. “Stop apologizing, baby,” he just murmurs. “I know you didn’t mean it. It’s okay, Nora.”

Nora pulls back a little, her eyes full of tears. “You’re not gonna call me Squirrel anymore?” she asks, like _that’s_ the thing she fears the most.

Eric snorts, but then coughs and tries to mask it.

Harry chuckles. “ _You_ are gonna be my Squirrel until the day I die, cheers,” he tells Nora with a grin. “I just didn’t wanna upset you in case you’re a shithead like your brother and you think you’re too old for my nicknames now.”

Nora gasps. “I’m _never_ gonna be too old for your nicknames,” she declares, and her scream is loud, because she might be all grown and Alpha now, but she’s still their little Banshee.

Harry smiles, and he hugs Nora again. Zayn can feel his own stomach untighten when he catches the wave of relief coming from his mate. “Dad?” Nora murmurs.

Harry hums.

“Eric told me you had to nest. Was it ‘cause of me? I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t _because of you_ , baby. Sometimes our nature just takes over. I’ll nest, your Baba will growl at literally nothing at all,” Harry replies, winking at Zayn. “It’s okay, Squirrel. As long as you now know who you really are, then everything’s just fucking peachy, innit?”

“Language,” Nora scolds him.

Harry laughs, and finally lets her go.

Nora turns to Zayn then, taking a tentative step towards him, and clearing her throat. “Baba, I’m sorry. For making a scene at the ice-cream truck and then screaming at you to let me go all the time. And, um, for being all horny in front of you, I guess.”

Zayn feels like his eyelids are twitching so hard it’s visible, but he manages to be all fucking chill when he replies. “No worries, _meri jaan_ ,” he says. “But, Nora?”

“Yeah?”

“From now on, your door stays open when Freddie comes over. Clear?”

Nora blushes. She goes almost purple, and stutters, and Harry glares at Zayn as he wraps a hand around Nora’s waist and pulls her away. “Don’t listen to him, Squirrel,” he declares. “It’s not like _his_ door ever stayed open after _we_ met,” he adds, giving Zayn his back as he gently guides Nora to the freezer where they’ve stored her favourite ice-cream for her.

Eric frowns at Zayn. “Baba, what did he even just say? It doesn’t make any fucking sense, you lived _alone_ when you met him!”

Zayn snorts a laugh, and nods. “Don’t ask me, _beta_. It’s been twenty years and I still don’t fucking know what he means most of the time, I swear.”

Nora growls. “I can hear you. Leave my Dad alone, both of you,” she says.

Harry legit _cackles_ at that, sticking his tongue out at Zayn. “Leave her Dad alone, both of you,” he repeats with a giggle.

As Zayn shares a beer with Eric, and watches Nora and Harry stuff themselves with ice-cream by the counter, he thinks that he never did well with changes, and so many things changed in the past few days. Even more things will probably change.

But one thing, the most important thing of all, has always been true and will never change. That _this_ is their family, their bond, the bond he and Harry created for themselves, and Zayn loves them all so much it’s scary, sometimes, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> Stay tuned for more parts in this series, I'm working on the already-planned remaining parts, and then it'll be time for the requests I decided to accept :)
> 
> Let me know what you're thinking, and as usual, you can find me on tumblr at wont-you-stay-till-the-am.tumblr.com if you wanna talk.
> 
> Till next time!


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